Otto Lais

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Otto Lais (born October 19, 1897 in Wilferdingen, near Karlsruhe , † March 5, 1988 in Wegberg -Merbeck) was a German artist who created paintings in the 20th century , which were often nude drawings .

biography

Otto Lais was born in 1897 not far from Karlsruhe as the son of a teacher . After the prima maturity at the high school in Durlach had acquired and as a soldier in World War I had participated, even he was a teacher. The state education authority recognized his artistic talent early on and released him to study at what was then the Karlsruhe Baden State Art School. During his studies he devoted himself more and more to graphic art, so-called etching . He made self-portraits, portraits and nudes .

Prof. Wilhelm Schnarrenberger , who was a friend of Lais, but especially the etcher Prof. Walter Conz, the students Rudolf Schlichter, Willi Müller-Hufschmid and Karl Hubbuch like to indicate the area, albeit incompletely. His ever growing social criticism, following the convention , turned to the poor and the oppressed. This should be the key to understanding his work. He is just as critical of time as Schlichter, only that Lais' work is presented more than his personal confession . Schlier, however, is more time-bound.

Lais is a moralist and an eroticist . The focus of his etchings is now clearly the woman, or better said " the temptations of women ".

Otto Lais died on March 5, 1988 in Wegberg -Merbeck.

Subject area

Lais' etchings were mostly on the subject of the city , the street , the poor, and often women . With his kind of art, which was rather unusual for the time, he wanted to draw attention to the fact that eroticism is not something bad. In the past, people were interested in these topics and in the female body, but were not allowed to admit it. And Otto Lais was against this social uptight , which got him a lot of trouble.

He made hundreds of etchings, a large number of which are now being presented in Pforzheim .

Difficulties and criticism

Otto Lais was heavily criticized for his attitude to sex and eroticism . Lais, who was always against the so-called uptight philistines , produced more and more revealing works, which caused a sensation. He used to find no one who wanted to exhibit his works of art . His attitude had the consequence that his license to teach as an art teacher was revoked. In addition, an exhibition ban in 1933 put a fateful end to the mysteriously closed work by Lais.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Art-Lexikon.de
  2. ^ The artist lexicon
  3. ↑ rasscass.com
  4. ^ The artist lexicon
  5. ^ Art of expressive representationalism from the Gerhard Schneider Collection
  6. ↑ art-lexicon
  7. ↑ rasscass.com and Das Künstlerlexikon
personal data
SURNAME Lais, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilferdingen
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1988
Place of death Wegberg -Merbeck